Snowmaking - Game On!

Sunday, December 28, 2014

This holiday season we are thankful for all of our loyal guests who knew that despite some rainy weather last week, our snow depths were solid - thank you snowmakers and Mother Nature! We enjoyed our post-Christmas laps in our lighter layer jackets sans face masks. Ahhhh, the freedom of Spring skiing...in December.

Pictured above, Larry is a walking thermometer. You can tell by his head dress what the temp is. He is also a hearty guy. He won't break down and wear a headband until it hits the freezing point. When I see him in a headband I know I will need a balaclava, neckie and helmet!

But as the saying goes, "wait a minute and it will change." Today will bring that change. The cold front is marching in and staying with us all week.

This means our snowmakers will be right back at it, resurfacing our favorite trails like Long John, Cascade, Canyon, Snowdance and Ridge. And building depths on trails like Ego Alley, Roller Coaster, Charlie's Chase and Inferno.

So far, our new Low E guns have performed very well. Randy, our head snowmaker, is most impressed with the HKD Implulse guns (those are the orange ones) because their quality of snow is better and they work at a higher temperature.

At snow plan today, everyone was eager to get going. Tonight and tomorrow night we will be making snow on Cascade, Canyon, Long John, Launch Pad, Snow Dance, Cooper's the Gulch and Inferno. Around Tuesday we will move to Lodge, Lower Exhibition, Ridge and Nitro. On Wed we move to Ego Alley, Roller Coaster and Bear Trap. This plan could change if we decide to stay on a trail longer or if winds shift - we could easily jump on Fallen Timbers. I have only listed the major stuff, there will be lots of little sections around the mountain that we fatten up.

Snowmaking temps look solid right through the week so keep your eyes on the snow report for updates and changes. There was a lot of talk and some bets on a system moving in Saturday. That's what I love about the ski industry - there is always optimism and a chance for that big storm around every conrner. In the meantime, we are making our own blizzard so hop in the car and get up here! Winter is precious and will be over before you know it.

After snow plan, it is back to work and getting the system ready to fire up as soon as the mercury drops.